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HomeMy WebLinkAboutConsolidated RFP questions and responsesRFP - Document Scanning and Destruction Services Compiled Questions: 1. Whether companies from Outside USA can apply for this? (like,from India or Canada) 2. Whether we need to come over there for meetings? 3. Can we perform the tasks (related to RFP) outside USA? (like, from India or Canada) 4. Can we submit the proposals via email? In response to your questions below: 1. Nothing in the RFP precludes a vendor from outside the USA, provided they can meet the requirements listed in the RFP. 2. Meetings may be held in a virtual format to avoid unnecessary travel. 3. See answer 1. 4. Proposals are required to be submitted via email per the RFP listing. 1) Can you provide a breakdown of the document types/volume within the 850 boxes? a. How many boxes of each document type? 2) Can you provide detail on the volume of large format (larger than 11”x17”) within the 850 boxes? 3) Indexing requirements a. Can you provide examples of the Laserfiche templates or indexing and naming required for the various types of documents? In response to your questions: 1. The documents are intermixed throughout the boxes. We do not have an itemized inventory by document type within the documents. a. As with the above answer, we do not have a number for each type as they are intermixed throughout the files. 2. We do not have an itemized amount of large format drawings, but the large majority of documents are standard or legal size. 3. The City’s Laserfiche repository lacks the full necessary templates as many of the document types have not been stored in our repository previously. File naming examples can be located within our repository that is publicly available: City Documents a. Some examples of likely subjects include: i. Public Comments ii. General Agreements iii. Plans/Reports/Studies • [REDACTED] has registered office in US and development centre in India. All development work will be done from our India development Centre. I hope this is fine? • The approximate budget for the project In response to your questions: 1. Nothing in the RFP precludes proposals from international firms. 2. While cost is a consideration in the project, the budget is dependent upon the pricing provided within proposals. Here are the areas we would like to confirm: 1. For performing work on site: Physical space and power availability 2. How far current storage of boxes are to the scanning area 3. Examine the documents for condition 4. Examine the boxes for % filled 5. Ascertain the indexing requirements per category—i.e., Legal, HR, Accounting, etc. 6. Confirm Laser Fiche software version 7. Engineering drawings -size range and quantity 8. Post scanning operation -physical storage requirement 9. Inventory control and shared access In response to your questions: 1. Documents are stored in three separate locations in City offices. Arrangements will need to be made in accordance with the finalized plan of implementation with the selected vendor. 2. See response 1. 3. See Addendum 1 4. See Addendum 1 5. Indexing requirements will be included in a finalized plan of implementation with the selected vendor 6. Laserfiche Version 10.4 7. The City does not have an itemized listing of drawing sizes or quantity within the files. 8. See RFP Document, specifically section III. Scope of Services, 1. Handling and Receiving Requirements 9. See RFP Document, specifically section III. Scope of Services, 1. Handling and Receiving Requirements b) Tracking and Inventory of City Documents and 4. Record Accessibility Following are a few questions intended to understand the level of risk in responding to this request. If the risk can be mitigated then we will follow up with more technical questions. 1. Section IV.g. Pricing. The pricing is currently limited to a price per box for both onsite and offsite. Since the tasks to scan a box can vary considerably and the quantities are not known, vendor pricing per box will certainly either be under or over bid and the risks are massive both for the vendor and for the agency. Most agencies recognize that nobody could possibly know how much prep will be required to pull staples, how many large format drawings will be present, how many photos, how many books that cannot be disbound and how many documents will be present, much less how many can be indexed by a title or description and how many are just sequentially named. To get a fair pricing estimate and to compare vendors using the same parameters, the agencies typically consult with a few vendors on the phone or from site visits to estimate the quantities of each task then ask vendors to respond with unit rate pricing based on those quantities. For example 850 boxes, 25 D size drawings, 2000 letter sized pages, 100 files indexed at the folder level by 40 keystrokes, 3 hrs of prep to pull binding, PDF with OCR, options to replace binding, onsite and offsite. This allows for fair compensation of the vendor without putting a vendor at risk and without forcing vendors to pad their bids to minimize risk and by doing so effectively overcharge the agency. Please consider providing a spreadsheet with tasks and quantities for unit rate pricing and comparison. 2. Section IX selection criteria. Cost is the only objective measure however in the criteria it is evaluated along with the qualifications of the firm. Please consider having a separate eval factor for Qualifications so vendors can understand if cost is 5% of the overall evaluation (generally meaning best solution at any price) or 35% of the evaluation where price can be a factor in the selection. 3. There are many options allowed from onsite, offsite, vendor transport and commercial courier. Can we provide a base bid for onsite with options for the other three? Does the agency have a preference and will that preference affect selection criteria other than cost. 4. There does not seem to be an evaluation criteria for the vendors proposed solution. For example one vendor might propose a solution in monochrome where another vendor proposes a superior grayscale FADGI calibrated solution. It is unclear if the agency wants a response to include the proposed procedures and options and if it will impact the evaluation. I appreciate your interest in our project. In response to your questions below: 1) As per addendum 1, on-site visits to inspect the documents can be arranged. In the alternative, the City will consider proposals that provide a breakdown of services by quantities in addition to a per box pricing. 2) Staff determined that costs and qualifications are interlinked and will be evaluated as such. 3) Yes, proposals can include multiple options for onsite, offsite, and transportation options. As per section III Scope of Services, 1 (a) “The City prefers work be done onsite but realizes this may be cost prohibitive.” 4) The City purposefully left the proposal options open for vendors to demonstrate their experience and qualifications, which solutions in excess of the minimum requirements would fall under. I am interested in making sure I understand that the bid evaluation is fair and equitable and looking to mitigate risk, which as written the risk is massive, both for the vendor and for the agency. • If the agency is not able or willing to provide quantities by task (if even just for evaluation purposes), how will the agency estimate or control costs? For example if vendor A wants to appear to be the lowest cost they could estimate 10min of prep to pull staples and have a prep rate of $100 per hour, where another vendor B might be more conservative at 3hrs with a reasonable prep rate. You could very well award the project to vendor A because they game the system then find out they bill you for 6hrs per box at $100 per hour. No vendor could possibly open and review 850 boxes to determine quantity of large format, photos, bound books, amount of prep and amount of indexing. Will the contracted vendor be limited by the service contract to a fixed maximum cost per box, putting massive risk on the project or will they be allowed to invoice for the actual tasks performed? Please reconsider using a task based unit rate bid which can easily be divided by 850 to get your cost per box for comparison. This method requires vendors disclose their unit rates and prevents anyone gaming the system or coming back to you with a change order because box 700-850 were significantly different than boxes inspected on site. • Based on your response to the questions are we to understand that cost is the lowest evaluated parameter in the evaluation? The City has offered on-site visit for assessment by proposed vendors. The City is aware of the variability inherent in the request to prepare and process the documents. The selected vendor and the City will have to negotiate the specifics of the costs based upon the proposal and the implementation plan. This agreement will be approved by the City Commission and will dictate the total project budget. It is incumbent upon the vendors to determine how they will calculate the costs as part of their proposal. The City will evaluate costs as a portion of the qualifications review criteria. Cost was specifically not given its own evaluation weight as, in our opinion, it is interlinked within the qualifications of the vendor. We are reviewing the scanning bid that has been posted and have a couple of quick questions so far: • Can questions about the bid be submitted anytime prior to 10/20/21? Are you answering them directly for each vendor in real time or all at once after the 20th and then posting the answers? • Are you allowing potential vendors to make a visit onsite and see the records in person prior to the deadline? Questions can be submitted up to the 20th. I am responding to individuals and compiling them to be attached to the original posting. We are allowing on-site visits. We issued an addendum to this point and it is available with the original posting. On-site visits need to be scheduled prior to October 20. [REDACTED] submits the following questions for your consideration. Thank you. 1. Can DocuSign be used for RFP forms execution? 2. Would the City consider amending pricing requirements to reflect a per-image cost instead of a per-box cost? 3. What are the specific document types to be processed? 4. Please provide the volumes to be scanned for of each of the document types/source documents listed in the RFP: large format drawings of various sizes; index card, letter and legal size documents with largest being 11in. x 17in; pictures; spiral bound; and tabbed binders. 5. How many documents are “non-Laserfiche?” – RFP page 8 6. How many documents are contained within each box? 7. Can bound documents be cut prior to processing? 8. What volume of documents must be captured in color? 9. Please confirm that all documents are to be securely shredded following the City’s acceptance of images/data. 10. Please provide the index values/metadata to be captured, by document type. 11. Will boxes be palletized and staged by the City in advance of pickup? 12. Please confirm that each box contain a manifest of its contents. 13. What information is contained within the box manifest? 14. If the manifest is available, will it be provided in electronic format? 15. How many boxes can be removed at one time? 16. Does the City have a vendor currently performing this work? 17. If a current vendor is in place, please advise how bidders can obtain a copy of the current contract. In response to your questions: 1. The City does use DocuSign for signatures. 2. The City does not have an indexing that would indicate a number of images. 3. Specific document types are varied from engineering drawings, standard paper formats, some note/post cards, loose sheets of miscellaneous sizes, and bound volumes. 4. The City does not have volumetric data by document type/source. 5. The City provided the different categories of Laserfiche and non Laserfiche documents for any vendors that do not, or have not, worked with Laserfiche in the past. All scanned documents will be placed in the City’s Laserfiche repository. 6. The City does not have individual document counts per box. 7. Bound documents can be unbound prior to scanning. It is not required to rebind the documents, either. 8. The City does not have itemized counts of color and black & white documents. 9. Not all documents will necessarily need to be shredded following acceptance. Those that are not to be destroyed will be identified in any inventory provided by the City. 10. Index values and metadata will vary throughout the documents provided depending on which department or division they originate from. 11. Any selected vendor and the City will have to make arrangements as part of the planning process. 12. Each box will have a record series attached to its contents; this will not be a page by page accounting of all documents within the box. 13. Box information will vary depending on the originating department or division. 14. Digital versions will be provided in addition to any physical labels upon a box. 15. Box quantities to be moved off-site will be determined with the selected vendor as part of the planning process. 16. No, the City does not currently have a vendor providing this work. 17. N/A [REDACTED] is working to complete our response to the above referenced RFP and would like to clarify the following for us. 1. Can you please confirm the size of the “banker boxes”? Are they 15” or 24” long? 2. Is there a loading dock at the building that can accommodate a 53’ trailer? 3. Where are the boxes located and what kind of access will be provided (basement, elevator, stairs, etc.)? 4. How are the boxes currently stored (pallets, shelves, etc.)? 5. If the work is done on-site, will they provide access to the building’s internet services? 6. Can you please detail the indexing requirements? For example: a. Is all indexing to be conducted via keystroke or is there electronic data available? b. Are all documents to be indexed the same or are there different indexing requirements based on document type? c. If indexing is required by document type, can you please provide the fields that are to be captured and where the information can be found (i.e., on the folder or on the documents) 7. For the "on-site" price option, how much space is available for equipment and staff? In response to your questions: 1) The majority are 15” long, but there are some 24” as well. 2) Our records are stored in three separate facilities. To my knowledge, the City does not have a loading dock to facilitate a 53’ trailer. The City and the selected vendor will need to make staging arrangements as part of the planning process prior to the implementation of any transfer. 3) The boxes are in three separate facilities; two are in basements, one with elevator access, one without; the third facility the boxes are on both the ground and second floor with elevator access. 4) Boxes are currently stored on shelves and/or stacked. 5) Yes, the City’s IT Department is prepared to provide access through our facilities’ network. 6) For indexing: a. Some files have electronic data/inventory available while others will require keystroke entry. b. There will be different indexing requirements based on document types. c. Most information will be combined from the boxes and subfolders within the boxes; full details of required information will be part of the planning process with the selected vendor. 7) The City has conference rooms that can accommodate equipment and staff of varying numbers depending on the facility and documents to be scanned. [REDACTED] questions so far on this bid : • 850 boxes – how did City of Bozeman arrive at this number? • Are the files in boxes already, or on shelves, file cabinets, etc. • What type of records are being referenced in the RFP? • How often will large format items (plans, blueprints, drawings, etc.) be present in the files? What will the sizes be? Will some of the large format need to be scanned in color? • What is the average size of a typical file? • How often would there be file requests…daily/weekly/monthly(?) while the vendor has them in their possession for scanning? • Under the 3C section for indexing, can City of Bozeman provide an example of what the unique filename shall be? How many characters long would an example be? • Do all 850 boxes need to be returned, or can they be shredded? Or stored? • Pricing on document destruction comment, City of Bozeman asks for a per pound cost to shred, any issues with a per box cost as well? • Is there any interest in having these same scanned records “mirrored” and backed up to a cloud service for an optional fee by selected vendor? • Is there a budget deadline for this project of 850 boxes? • How many vendor responses are you anticipating? How many vendors will attend (or have attended) the on-site meeting to review the records? Comments to Mike: • Price per box cost for off-site scan services….A price per box given that there are large format will be difficult since we don’t know how many there will be in in each file/box. • Could multiple pictures be sent to us in advance so we can see the inside of the boxes and of the files in order to formulate a per box cost? In response to your questions: 1) City Staff inventoried the boxes in the various locations and/or calculated linear feet based on the materials stored in shelving units. 2) Some files remain in high-density storage shelving, some are already in boxes. 3) Documents from a variety of departments including but not limited to the City Commission, City Manager, City Clerk, City Attorney, Engineering Department, and Fire Department 4) The City does not have an itemized inventory of large format items within the files; sizes are as listed in the RFP, up to large-scale blueprint and engineering drawings 36” wide. Yes, some large format will need to be scanned in color. 5) The City does not have an itemized inventory, though a large number are standard 8.5 x 11” documents. 6) The City has no way of determining the frequency of file requests while in the possession of the vendor. 7) The indexing will vary depending on the document type and the department that owns the record. The number or characters is also variable, one example of a particular agreement type is: 21- Professional Services Agreement - Bozeman Downtown Partnership LLC - Administration and Management of the Downtown Bozeman Urban Renewal District 8) The number of boxes to be destroyed depends on the record series, the retention schedule, and the disposition process as outlined by the Secretary of State’s Office. All details related to this function of the RFP will be completed in the planning phase. 9) No issue with a per box cost. 10) The City of Bozeman has a Laserfiche repository established. Any additional mirroring or cloud service backup after final transfer of the digital files is unnecessary. 11) The project is scheduled to be completed prior to the end of our fiscal year, June 30, 2022. 12) The City of Bozeman has received inquiries related to this project from 10 potential vendors. One vendor made an on-site visit. I do not think we can provide an accurate reflection of contents through pictures. There is significant variation within even the same records series on the formats within each box. QUESTIONS FOR CITY OF BOZEMAN Specifications: 1.a) Materials to be processed: Are pictures to be scanned printed photos or film? Pictures to be scanned are printed photos. Handling and Receiving requirements: 1.A – Paragraph states: The selected vendor will be held responsible for lost, stolen and/ or damaged original documents. The selected vendor will be assessed up to $500 for a records box that is lost, stolen or damaged. Our current liability limits are “the fee’s charged per box”. Will this be acceptable to City? These terms would be subject to negotiations with the selected vendor. Quality and Production requirements: 3.G – City states: Vendor shall perform a consistency check on 20% of the images. This shall include image clarity, orientation, and accuracy. Our initial QC check is for 2.5% of the documents. From there it expands as needed if there are quality issues. Will this be acceptable to the City? The City is willing to discuss QC methodology with the selected vendor as part of the planning process. We are submitting a response to your RFP and have an administrative question please: The page regarding NDA states: (to be added). Is the City looking to have an NDA signed once they award the bid or before? We have not seen anything regarding an NDA. The City intends to have a NDA section in the Professional Services Agreement that was not included in the initial posting due to an error on versions. The substance of which is: 16. Confidential Information/Non-Disclosure by Contractor: a. Contractor shall treat all documents, files, and media as confidential information and shall not, except with the express prior written authorization of the City’s Representative, make digital or physical copies of or disclose, publish, or release to any person other than Contractor’s employees or subcontractors approved in advance by the City, any information contained within any of the documents, media, or files provided by the City to the Contractor pursuant to the Scope of Services. This obligation shall survive the term of this Agreement. b. Contractor must adopt policies and practices to ensure it and its employees and any subcontractors comply with the above. c. The Parties recognize documents, media, or information may be considered public information under Montana law and Contractor specifically agree the determination of whether such documents, media, or information provided by the City to the Contractor is public information and therefore subject to public disclosure is to be made solely by the City and the release of any such information shall be made solely by the City. Contractor shall not take any action to release any documents, information, or media provided by the City to the Contractor unless required by subpoena or court order.